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DOE Southcentral and Upper West Combined Heat and Power TAP

The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) in The Woodlands, Texas has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to assist public and private entities considering Combined Heat and Power (CHP). The DOE Technical Assistance Partnerships (TAP) program promotes CHP technology solutions for the industrial and manufacturing sector, critical infrastructure, institutions, commercial facilities, and utilities seeking to reap the many benefits of CHP. Building upon previous TAP program successes, HARC will manage program activities in eleven states over the next five years. The Southcentral TAP Region includes Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, with DOE funding of about $2.7 million. Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota comprise the Upper West TAP Region, funded with $1.48 million from DOE.

DOE TAPs promote the many advantages of CHP with technical resources to assist in evaluation and installation of CHP systems. While CHP is widely known for improving energy efficiency, it is increasingly recognized as a way to make facilities more resilient against power outages. Natural disasters in recent years have underscored the importance of resilient energy infrastructure for continuity of operations, especially for critical facilities such as hospitals, college campuses, and governmental installations.

TAP programs provide a range of technical assistance services for facilities seeking to integrate CHP. Initially, a prospective project is screened to assess economic viability by analysis of energy costs to gauge potential savings with CHP. This service is provided free of charge, thanks to DOE funding. Primary candidates include facilities such as wastewater treatment plants, food processing, data centers, higher education, manufacturing, chemicals and refining, as well as oil and gas operations.

Interest in CHP at your site? Please fill out this short survey to see if CHP may be a good fit for your facility.

Please reach out to us if you need assistance with project assessments, project development or education and outreach. We look forward to working with you. Contact Gavin Dillingham at gdillingham@harcresearch.org for more information.

To learn more about CHP in a variety of different applications, please check out our webinars or go to the DOE CHP Deployment web site.

To learn more about CHP in a variety of different applications, please check out past webinar recordings or register for future webinars.

Project Applications & Mapping Tools

Interconnection Tool for Texas is a step-by-step guide on how to interconnect a 10 MW or larger distributed generation or “generation resource” to the ERCOT transmission grid. This tool can help ensure a successful and timely interconnection process from beginning to end.